Road to Pimlico | Dan Illman & Kali Francois

Another edition of Road to Pimlico and I love these shows.

Lou, your row. I'm Oceanside here in Mediana,

Alta, Puerto Rico for all things but hanging out with three

people in the state of Maryland. One of them is Scott Wyckoff

hasn't been on one of these episodes yet this year ahead of

Preakness 150. Scott, of course, one of the

great voices on WBAL there in Baltimore.

So glad to have you in Scott. Good evening.

How are you, man? Yeah, I'm doing great.

Fantastic that you're in the sun, in the fun.

We've been having some cold days and nights here, particularly in

the morning. I know for everybody training

out at Laurel, it's been bitter cold.

I was out this morning, I think when I got into my car to head

off to the station it was 9° and it just not getting any better.

But it's been dry. So it sounds like the track's in

good shape and it should be a good weekend.

For all things track steward talk, we go to Dan Illman of the

Maryland Jockey Club. He's director of communications

over there. Dan, look, you and I are going

to have a great moment later, but I'll ask you first.

How's the hotel life? How's Dan Hillman doing?

Yeah, it's, it's doing really great.

I'm so happy you're in Puerto Rico.

I mean, there's, there's really no one more deserving than you.

I mean, all you do for the horse racing industry, for all you do

for the business, for all you do for media, you certainly deserve

your day in the sun, literally in Puerto Rico.

And Scott's absolutely right. We're freezing here in Maryland.

So enjoy. You're not the only ones.

This is the entire country's freezing except for the

territories in the ocean, essentially.

Kelly Francois, who's from Wisconsin.

Does the weather bother you now that you've moved away from

Wisconsin, or are you still? So.

Thick Campbell soup for blood. Yeah, no, ever, ever since I've

spent a winter down in Florida, that Wisconsin, Dan and I have

had this conversation that Wisconsin's blood is out of me.

I I don't go outside. I am a domesticated cat at this

point right now. So I stopped, you know, I

stopped getting on horses in the morning.

What was it? It was after it, It was right

after Thanksgiving because the weather just went 30°.

I said no. So yeah, I don't, I don't go

anywhere outside. Not anymore.

Want no part? Of it, of course, this series is

part of our Road to Pimlico series.

If you're new and just joining us for the first time, we we

look at those preps starting the two year old season, move on to

the three-year old season ahead of the Preakness Stakes and the

Black Eyed Susan on this show. To get you an idea of who will

be representing essentially Laurel Park in the Maryland

circuit there at the Preakness and at the the Black Eyed Susan,

of course, the last winner to come out of the Tessio.

Come on Scott Wyckoff, it's it's Preakness 150.

You got to be sharp on your on your trivia right now, right?

What was that? What was the name of that horse?

And. I the the Tessio gets more fame

for the name I think nationally than than.

It totally does, Yeah. Oh, poor Frederico has his name

on that thing. That's right, deputed testimony.

We will. We will do this show until there

is another deputed testimony and then we will leave Dan Ullman

alone is essentially my approach to all of these things.

So alongside a radio guy, a communications guide to

domesticated cat Louie Rebeau, another radio guy hanging out

with you here on the horse racing happy hour.

Man, how has, how has the current meeting been?

Is there biases going on things that people need to know?

Of course, we're doing all the dirt racing right now at Laurel

Park. I only asked this question, Dan,

because I've been asking it around the country with the

different weather conditions as far as places like Oaklawn, you

know, places like, you know, up in, up in Long Island, those

kinds of things track playing pretty fair as far as you can

tell. I think for the most part it's

been fair. There have been some days where

speed's been good. There have been some days when

closers have done well. And of course, you can find out

all about this when you go to laurelpark.com/pics and download

our free handicapping guide. Every single racing day we'll

have bias information for the entire meet, Horses to watch,

Cali's picks, the top team's picks, my full card analysis,

Will Humphreys trip notes free and free PPS on the side as

well. Really a great deal, thanks for

asking. Sometimes.

Sometimes it's that simple. Callie, how do you like having

to put up your opinions every day?

How's that feel? It's kind.

Of I mean, I have to anyway, so to just to put it in black and

white out there and meaning I have to stick with my opinions.

That's to be determined. So yeah, just I honestly and

talking about Will Humphrey's trips, his little tip trip trip

tips, that's something that really, really could hold a lot

of value out there who are working on these Maryland tracks

that, you know, if you're playing these tracks.

We've got a lot of great stats that Dan provides as well.

Keith Fusel will throw in a couple of their a couple of

stats there as well. So a lot on that free

handicapping guide that we have for you guys.

There is a lot, so much information about Maryland.

It's stunning. Go ahead, Scott.

I've been hearing a lot from folks, People have been coming

up to me quite a bit asking about how, you know, the

transition has been made to the new Maryland Jockey Club.

And one thing that a lot of people have mentioned to me is,

is what you guys have been talking about the information.

There's so much new information and, and different resources.

And it's funny how people get kind of set in their ways and

what they like to look at. And I've had a number of people

say to me, he said, hey, Scott, you know, I'm excited about what

I can do ahead of going to the track and getting out there and

seeing and seeing some of the different things.

Like for a long time it it was really difficult to get a sense

of trends at Laurel, particularly when you weren't

going out to the track on a daily basis.

You had to rely basically on on what you maybe heard or go back

and look at replays and things of that sort.

So that's one great thing that the new Maryland Jockey Club has

been able to incorporate is this information.

And the more information the Hearst players have, I think it

brings them into saying, you know, hey, maybe I'm going to

spend more time, you know, looking at the races at Laurel.

And I think that's that's been real popular.

It really in this first month of the new Maryland Jockey Club.

All thanks to Dan. You know, my sense of I agree

and my sense of these things, Dan Elman, is that, you know,

with sports bettors, they kind of say, all right, 76ers,

Knicks, you know, I, I like the 76ers better than I like the

Knicks tonight. Whatever it is, horse players

that that's not what they are. They're puzzle solvers, right?

They're people that like to, you know, sit down with that form,

really look at all the information.

They want to hear about biases. They want to hear those things.

So kudos to you. This was an immediate ad upon

your arrival there in the hotelscape that is Maryland, but

also just I, I, I think AI think a nice model frankly for other

circuits moving forward. No, I think it would be great if

other tracks could give out as much information as possible.

I mean, we want you to win. That's something that I think a

lot of you know, not this racing fans and people that haven't

gotten into the game, they don't realize.

They think they're playing against the house.

No, no, no, this is paramutual wagering.

I'm playing against Cali. I'm playing against you, Louis.

Thankfully I can make a living doing this and I'm playing.

So we want you to win. We take our, thankfully we only

take 12% of our late pick five and early pick 5.

We'll talk about that in a little bit.

That's a good deal for fans as well.

But we want you to win. We want you to have information.

We want you to have fun. We want you to solve the puzzle.

You put that beautifully. HORSE players are puzzle solvers

and it's great when you can solve the New York Times

crossword puzzle. You get to say to your friends,

I did it. But here, if you solve the

puzzle, you get paid and you get to make fun of your friend that

doesn't get paid. It's great.

No, that's right. Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've stood next to Co host

before with the with winning tickets.

Poor Mike Endolfo at the Indiana therapy.

That comes to mind. Scott Wyckoff, I wanted to have

you on because I do want people to know what it is that BA LS

going to be doing for Preakness this year.

Are we, you know, with with your little spot there at the top of

the stretch of those kinds of things.

I assume the Bal train rolls on. We'll have that show before the

Preakness. Yeah, we will roll on big week,

of course, Preakness Week as they head into the third

Saturday in May. We'll lead off with the great

coverage of the post position draw.

It's, it's so much fun and looking forward to each year,

the different things that have evolved out of that and the

different players that come to town.

And really that's a fun way to get things going with the draw

happening so early now in the week that it really steam rolls

ahead. So our coverage will continue

through the week and then Thursday night we'll do a

Preakness preview show. So beginning at 7:00 after our

big news block, which is one of our big listening times on the

station, beginning at 7:00. A great way to kind of set the

field and get a sense of what I've seen out of the track

during the week. And some different people we've

talked to and some of the themes are evolving and kind of get a

sense of maybe the people that, that, that are embracing the

Preakness. It seems that each year people

come to Baltimore and and you just find this group of of horse

owners that are just loving what the Preakness is to them.

We like to bring that out and they'll be a part of our

program. Also, we're always joined in

that show by one of the voices that folks will see on

television, both on Friday for Black Eyed Susan Day and then on

Saturday for Preakness Day from NBC and Peacock.

So that's a lot of fun talking to our friends at NBC.

And we'll also continue with our show on Saturday, Preakness Day.

You know, back to the day pre COVID, we used to be up on the

jockeys terrace, but when the when COVID happened, our friends

at NBC kind of increased their footprint there.

But we've got a great spot, WBAL Radio right alongside WBALTV 11.

And the neat thing is we're right in the clubhouse term and

WBAL radio and WBLTV are basically on all day long.

I'll be doing both radio and TV, but the big radio program that

we really look forward to is between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM.

Orioles baseball's a little bit later on in the day, so we'll

lead it into that and kind of bring some live races.

Always great to hear Dave Rodman on the radio when you're driving

around Baltimore and hear Dave's calls of the races.

And also always great to have Louis Rubbo on the airwaves in

Baltimore. It'll be kind of with heavy

hearts that will do the broadcast this year because

it'll be our first in a long time without a great racing

voice and Pete Medders who passed away last month.

Pete really enjoyed joining us in his pre discovered.

Pete grew up a huge horse racing fan.

He became known as one of the great standard red race callers

in the country and really embraced by harness racing

because he really brought harness racing into the

mainstream. Pete, a voice of Navy football,

also one of the voices of the Washington Nationals.

And I really think that harness racing was better because Pete

was was able to bring them into the mainstream.

But Keith loved thoroughbred racing and he brought to that

show just an amazing knowledge. He can look at a program, a

racing form, and it goes right there.

He looks at it once he knows exactly what's going on.

So it'll be neat to maybe share some memories about Pete, but

also to talk about for sure, we'll introduce people to what

the new Pimlico is going to be. I mean, Preakness 150 is going

to be the last Preakness as we know it at Pimlico.

And it's going to be exciting to, to talk about what we've

done in the previous, you know, 149 years for 1:50.

But also looking to the future because there is so much

excitement right now. It's kind of weird on a daily

basis, I drive by Pimlico and just kind of check things out

and you just want to take these snapshots of what it is.

And I think for the for people in Baltimore, the excitement is

everyone remembers when Memorial Stadium closed and and there was

a lot of people that were sentimental about what Memorial

Stadium medium meant not only to Baltimore, but to the nation

because of the success the Orioles had through the 60s and

70s and 80s. But then when the realization of

Camden Yards came into play, and now with the new Pimlico being

built and engineered in the architecture by some of the same

team members that were involved in Camden Yards, I think that's

going to be really exciting. Janet Murray Smith, who works

with the the Los Angeles Dodgers, who did Camden Yards,

who who helped image the new Fenway differences, it was her

idea to put those seats up on the Green Monster.

She's done unbelievable things with the Dodgers.

She's very involved in what's going to happen at Pimlico.

So this reimaging that's going to catapult from that weekend,

it's going to be a lot of fun. Yeah, when people ask me about

New Pimlico and, and what my sort of general thought is as a

guy who's who's lucky enough to go to the Preakness every year

is I always say, what do you think of, what do you think of

where they play baseball there? Oh, it's really nice.

OK, great. What do you think where the

Ravens play? Oh, it's really nice.

OK say people like, like, what are we doing here?

Like they're they're, you know, they're going back to, to what's

tried and tested there in Baltimore.

Scott has also figured out for anyone listening, if you show up

Friday night, Black Eyed Susan night after the race to Jimmy's

Seafood, I will buy your dinner. And so that's something Scott

has very much figured out. It's it's bad for me, but it's

very, very good for Jimmy's. Yeah.

And you'll give you, you'll give some winners.

It's a great time. I was there last year.

A great seminar, I mean with, with boots on the ground to get

a live show like that where folks can come to Jimmy's, which

is historic now. I mean, you watch any football

game, be it on CBS or ESPN, they they show the crab cakes coming

out of the oven from Jimmy's. It's a great way to to get

together and meet Louis and the whole gang from Louisville and

get some really good tips on what they saw not only during

the day on Friday at Black Eyed Susan day, but get some ideas of

what they're looking forward to. And I think that's, that's a

neat way to to bring people together.

And like you say, you can't beat having a having a cold one,

having some great seafood and maybe a great Louisville, KY

cigar all in one night at Jimmy C.

That always happens. That's right.

Yeah. All right, Scott.

Well, I appreciate you very much, buddy.

We will see you third Saturday in May, my friend.

Sounds like you're going to be in at Keeneland.

I already made promises about that as well.

So I'll see you for both of those.

Fantastic tally Ho A. Good one.

All right, see you love that man.

The goat, The goat. There it is.

The goat. Y'all are you?

You all are surrounded. You don't even know to have Dave

Rodman and Scott Scott Wyckoff in the same horse racing.

OK, maybe, maybe we do Louis, because I just because I just I

just I'm at the office. I just sent a text to Dan

probably two hours ago. Dan was it.

I was watching. So I was watching just I was

watching, you know, other Derby and Oaks contenders just doing

races. And I sent a text to Dan being

like, thank God we have Dave Rodman.

What was the text? Did you do you have the text?

Dan? What's?

The thing some other track announcers really makes me

appreciate Dave Rodman so much. We're so lucky to have him.

And I said one word. Absolutely.

Yeah. OK, good.

OK. All right.

Not disparaging anyone there. Lots of other good track

announcers around. Dave Rodman.

No, he's a GOAT. It's OK to say he's great.

It's a fantastic. No, he's awesome.

He's great. He's unbelievable.

His I, I say a lot on this show, his call of the COVID October

Preakness with Swiss Skydiver is a top three race call I've ever

heard. It's not even in the Philly

shows, the way battle in Baltimore.

It's all, it's all there. All the elements are there.

It is a spectacular call. Go back.

You have to find the Maryland Jockey Club feed for that one,

of course, as NBC was on site that day for that one.

Hey, Dan, the great moment I wanted to have with you is this

We're going to talk late pick 5 at Laurel Park.

And I remember there were shows when we started doing this where

I didn't even want to talk about the last race because I thought

it was offensive to the better. And I need to tell you, my

friend, and I'm not going to apologize for that because I was

right. But today, my friend, I'm going

to congratulate you all because this pick 5 sequence is

unbelievable and it is very playable.

Your take out rate is just right.

You have all this information out.

This is what I'm talking about. This is the future of Maryland

racing. I'm really, if this is man, I'm

really excited because this is the end of this card is really

spectacular. Well, we're really pleased we

did it for you. I assume.

All right. There you go.

All right, then he just drops the mic there.

We did it for Louis. I doubt it very much Cali

wasn't. I don't know that Cali was

around for those dark days yet man, I don't know if that's a

thing. But anyways, reminder that all

of our road to Pimlico shows are presented by that company right

above Cali's head there AM wager am wager.com.

So go get the am wager edge. It's an online betting platform

designed by horse players for horse players.

It delivers speed power, top tier features like true odds and

conditional wagering. So whether you're placing a win

bet or a complex pick, 5:00 AM wager gives you the tools to

help you bet smarter. So visit amwageramwager.com

today. They have a 100% deposit match

up to $150.00 going on right now.

You need an edge, you need Amwager and just had a 20% bonus

on the Windbats at Laurel Park last Saturday.

So I thought that was pretty, pretty awesome to see.

So let's move straight into that sequence starts in race 5.

This is an allowance mile on a 16th on the dirt 4 and up here

for non non 2 lifers Essentially lots of lots of good options in

here in this 149 K in the Kitty here.

And Dan, where did you land in Race 5?

I think pace makes the race and I think Derbiness is going to

get to the lead in here for Sheldon and Brittany Russell and

I'd actually like this. We're stretching out to around a

mile and a 16 horse has been running one turn miles recently

and I think the pace has been very fast for him internally.

You look at the last race, first quarter 24, O2, second quarter

2371, taking pressure as the race got quicker while racing on

the outside eventually makes the lead and the rail and

understandably gets tired. I don't think Derbiness has to

work nearly as hard to get to the front in this race.

That could be all she wrote for this field.

Derbiness has earned some money in his career.

I want to give him one more chance if he does get to the

front. And if the speed doesn't get you

from the Russell barn, maybe the closer will.

You've got the stranger, the four cocktails at noon trying

dirt for the first time. But this source has a dirt

pedigree. I mean he's a half to it's

Viper. We know here at Laurel Park that

horses takes place going around the ground.

Another stakes place towards Jester calls me Joy was very

quick early in that one's career.

So I think the source is bread for dirt has shown some

potential on the turf and still has some upside.

I think those two are logical alternatives to your favorite

Jamie Ness coupled entry. We do have a coupled entry here,

one and one a here Callie of the favorites.

I assume people love their coupled entries.

They love to depend on those for sure.

Will you be using that or will you be trying to beat it?

Well, I I will be using the coupled entry actually, and

because only because I also do know that Jamie Ness usually

scratches one of those coupled entries.

I have a feeling he's going to keep straussing Owen just coming

off of that parks effort off of, you know, just a little bit of a

month break and came back in a good fashion off of a really

wide trip. I just think, you know, I

understand Dan's angle with derpiness on the front and I do

think he will appreciate the two turns.

I just need to see him getting back into that motion off of the

two turns. So it it, it was a, it was a

tough race that he had. I think this guy second off of

the layoff as well. Sometimes it just depends really

on the setup and I think I think they're going to be surprised

with how much pressure he's going to be getting within that

first third of the race. I think while it seems like a

lot of these horses are kind of mid pack horses, I think there's

going to be a couple that are breathing down his neck a little

bit. I definitely think Virginia City

with Xavier Perez on top is going to be making a really

strong presence. I think Jamie Rodriguez might

try and do an inside out trip, which sets him to kind of

breathe right on Derbiness's neck.

But on top, actually, who I I do.

So I go with Strauss, you know, and.

And I go with Warmaster, I do go with a coupled entry, just

waiting for Jamie Ness. I I'm guessing that he's going

to be scratching Warmaster, but who knows.

But either way, I am kind of solid with those two.

And I go with cocktails at noon for the aforementioned reason

that Dan said that this guy is 1/2 to it's Viper.

On top of that, Brittany Russell is she's clipping at a 30%

anyway, from the turf to the dirt.

Yes, this guy's coming off of a layoff going long, but that's

the kind of thing that Brittany Russell does have a strength in.

All right. We move on to race six.

I largely agree with the analysis there.

So we'll move on to race 6 for this one.

This is another allowance, 6 furlongs that will go from a

route to a Sprint here. We'll stay with sprinting next

race in the Black Eyed Susan Prep in the wide country as

well. This one happens to be 6

furlongs on the dirt for four and up another one.

Dan, can you explain to folks who might be watching this who

don't know the state bread rules?

This is kind of a Maryland bred Maryland sire.

How does this kind of race work 'cause you will see different

horses with different numbers of wins, that kind of thing?

You will see Marilyn bred or sired and if you read the long

condition thing, we could be here for a while.

It's like war and peace. You have never won a state bred

state cider, state certified race other than maiden claiming,

waiver claiming or starter and which have not won two races

other than maiden claiming, waiver claiming or starter or

which have never won two races. So it's an hours or two life or

it's an hours or two other then or it's an hours of a state

sired. So anybody that's basically

Marilyn bred or Maryland certified or Marilyn sired can

compete in this race and we've got a a pretty solid field in

here. I think this is one of the more

competitive betting races and I'm very curious to see you Cali

likes. Let's go to Cali first, please.

I it's, it's either flash over consistency and that's always

something I find myself. Everybody finds themselves kind

of going in between. So I take the consistency with

Spencer Tiara, with Liz Merriman, Torielba.

I did have the number 4 on top first just because that was such

an impressive run last time out, but now with the weight and

Michael Moore put the weight off on this one.

So I mean it just on based on what we saw back in that parks

alone. But this is First off the

layoff. We have a bullet work leading

in. But Spencer Tiara, I really just

like what I saw out of the grit in that late challenge that this

one had coming in. And on top of that, you do have

Liz Merriman, who is 8 for 9 in the money from third off of the

layoff. She's also, she can be pretty

strong with this aqueduct to Laurel.

But yeah, 5 for nine, third off of the layoff.

This one is being primed just correctly here.

Very, very strong. I'm surprised to see Liz

Berryman without a starter so far at the beat there at Laurel

Park. Nice to see her name back in the

past performances. Do you agree, Dan, with Kelly's

analysis? I I think Spencer Tiara is

certainly a strong contender in this race.

I won't be surprised at all if she wins and I'll probably use

her in the pick 5. She's really improved since

blinkers were added to the equation and Kelly talked about

the most recent race where she'd be two next out winners.

The runner up came back and earned an 87 buyer speech

figure, so she's been facing good competition.

There are a couple of other horses in the this race.

They're interesting. I think the most fascinating

horse is the four Take the money Honey, who has one race and just

ran off the screen and then was entered, I think at man with a

couple of months later was a vet scratch and has not been seen

since. So we're getting the source off

of a lengthy layoff. I'm expecting the source to just

show fresh speed off of the layoff and we'll find out how

good she is because she's going to have to be pretty good to

beat this strong field off stuff to break If the four and the

five hook up. Doesn't Bond Diva get a great

trip just tracking outside? And she's the kind of horse that

I'd like to use. We've had some arguments up in

the press box. Spirited arguments.

I won't say if they're alcohol infused arguments.

Spirited arguments up in the press box.

Some guys will say Bond Diva hangs like a chandelier.

I will say no two starts back, I think she just got beat by a

better horse when it looked like she was shooting up the rail to

win and last time out when she made the lead she pushed a very

fast pace before getting tired. This time around she lets the

other two do The Dirty work. She tracks, she pounces.

No excuses for Bondiva on Saturday.

You heard it here first. People like no excuses on

Saturday. Daniel, what I wanted to ask you

very specifically about one horse in this race and that is

the 8 horse on the outside in Dazzy who won at a mile and an

eighth at Aqueduct last out. It comes back here in a six

prolong Sprint. I know you love a good turn back

in distance. This is a lot of turn back in

distance. Is this purely just a conditions

play? I think that this might be even

too much of A turn back in distance.

And I'm not going to question Jamie Ness too much.

He knows way more than about this stuff than I do.

But this horse was successful at a mile and an eighth.

As you mentioned last time, I had a very good trip in doing

so, turning back from a mile and an eighth to six and facing the

speeds of the four and the five. Isn't there a chance at least

that Dazzy's just going to get Runway off of her feet in the

early portion of this race? Could be 910 lengths out of it.

A lot of work to do, Turning for home, going 6 prologues.

Do I think she's the best closer in the race?

Yes. Is she going to get the right

setup? Just not sure.

She was the horse I had the most trouble with.

Yeah, I agree. I saw that one at the end and I

thought, oh great, I got to talk about this.

I frankly don't quite know what to do it just I mean that mile

and an eighth and aqueduct too. I mean just so different than a

six Roblox for the laurels. I was just surprised to see

those back-to-back. Just caught me off guard as

well. Well, great.

I I think everybody talked about every horse I wanted to hear

about. So that's awesome.

This episode is for me. I'm learning.

Plus this card. I had no idea, but what a great

moment for me. Race 7 will be the Black Eyed

Susan prep. Here it is the wide country.

It's for Philly. 7 furlongs on the dirt here, $100,000 and

everybody's three years old in this one as well.

We see the return of Icona Mama, who has been running not in

Maryland, but makes the trip down for the Stites Barn and

those connections at 2 to one from the morning line maker.

I got a lot of problems with that guy, but we'll move on from

there. Dan, who did you land on and

what appears to be either you trust or you spread kind of wide

country? Kind of like Onyx 10 right back

in here. I know that you got a very good

trip last time out when she won the extra heat.

She saved ground, the rail opened up, she shot on through.

But I really like the way she finished that race off in the

manner of a horse that's going to get the 7/8 of a mile with no

problem. I think there's speed in this

race. There's Icon Amano, there's

Field of Roses, there are a couple of others in here that

have some early gas. Icono Mama worries me a little

bit because when I talked to Flint Stites earlier this week

and she's very, very talented. She was great at Steaks Place

last year. He said that this weather has

altered the training pattern a little bit and then maybe Icono

Mama isn't as fit as he'd like her to be coming into this race.

And he said she's so talented it may not matter.

But coming off the layoff, having the show inside speed

going 7 off the layoff, not easy with some other speeds in here.

I'm going to take the consistent Onyx 10 to maybe rally from just

off of it. There you go, Kelly.

He's choosing consistency in this race.

Where does Kelly Francois go? I'm really surprised that Dan

went with Onyx 10 because that's actually who I go with as well.

So I like the fact because I I'm looking, I circled back to that

effort at the Maryland juvenile when she was going the seven

furlongs and she didn't. It wasn't a bad trip, but it

wasn't a great trip that she had.

There was just something a little funky about the trip that

she had. And I think that if she was

placed, you know, she was chasing a little bit in that

race. There was a little bit going on

in the front end and in the break she took a beat to kind of

get her feet underneath herself. And I think that kind of put her

on the back pedal immediately from the start of that race.

So I'm not saying I threw that race out, but it kind of proves

that yes, she did go two turns the next race, but that's the

kind of Onyx 10 that we kind understand and know.

And then interestingly, interestingly enough, Gary Capp

takes her back to the extra heat is able to handle that distance

from going long to short. So now we kind of get back to

that 7 furlongs. I think we're going to see a

little bit of an Onyx 10 than what we saw back from Maryland

Juvenile Philly. So I go 5:00 to 4:00.

We also have to include safe trust.

Dennis Arujo has got this Philly figured she's got it figured

out. So in obviously in the Maryland

juvenile, which I just mentioned, Onyx 10 was in, she

had the better trip. She was pressing the issue

against the nice Caprice for Carl Lynch needed some time.

She came back. We know that she enjoys an off

track anyway and and she's one, she's she's one after competing

on an off track, going on a fast track in her maiden breaking

score. So there's not really too much

to argue. I do wonder that if she could

potentially bounce in that effort a little bit.

I didn't love the gallop out and on top of that, Corrales is 2

for 35 second off of the layoff. SO5246I include Field of Roses

for Ferrier Rodriguez because they rarely ever team up and

this was a nice one that we saw in that claiming 40 last out.

I think a horse that could be interesting if you wait till

post time to bed or close to post time, Ishkara fire the

seven four to one. I think that horse might drift

up a little higher than that, maybe a 5-6 to one kind of

number just because of the, you know, I don't know, the

connection numbers of 10% and those kinds of things.

This horse is going to want to come from 3-4 off and try to

make that run late. Is there a chance that the

shipper and Icona Mama just goes as hard as she can?

A bunch of horses try to keep up with her and then we get a horse

in the seven like Shakara that picks up a Shakara fire.

Excuse me, picks up the pieces to me, I'm going to try to play

the race that way. I think that it's going to I

think it's going to meltdown. I think it's going to get hot on

the front. I do think that plays to your

top pick though in on extent because I think that horse is

capable full of of a little more professional run.

We don't have to go full bore right now.

Let's wait till we get to the top of the stretch to do that.

So I think those two are where I'm going to land.

But I think the four is really interesting in here as well.

Kelly. No, I agree.

I think Shakara Fire is rounding into her best form.

She showed a lot of ability and if you look at her big stakes

win last year was the Maryland Million, right?

And didn't you come from like last million lengths out of it?

I think she was forced to be kind of closer to the pace than

she wanted to be in her first start this year, she's ran on a

little bit at the end. She's going to get some pace to

write. You can make the argument that

she's the best pure closer in this field.

Curious to see how much upside she has.

But I think the seven furlong, that's right between the eyes.

All right, the Preakness prep for the day will be the miracle

would it's for three-year olds mile.

We'll go to a mile and a 16th next month as we get closer to

the Tessio. This is 4 three-year olds, of

course, $100,000 Here on the live we see sacred Thunder.

And of course, the big news here, Dan, is that Studly Do

Right has opted for the the Derby Prep at Turfway Park.

Yeah, I talked to Jerry Rob earlier this week and he said

suddenly do Right is leaning towards the Battaglia and

probably going to run there on Saturday.

He's always wanted to try that horse on turf and well, I guess

if you can't get him on turf, synthetic's the second best

thing. And suddenly do right through an

interesting inside post position.

So it's suddenly do right out. Sacred Thunder is now the horse

to beat. The problem is Sacred Thunder

has no luck at all. And guess what?

He drew the rail again and that's not fun for Gary Cap.

Oh, I'm sure he's just ruling this post position.

Draw it. This horse had just a terrible

trip last time that you could argue he was the best horse in

the spectacular bid. He got locked in behind horses

all the way, finally got out of the stretch and he's just

rolling the last 16th of a mile. We'll see what sort of trip it

gets in here. I just don't think there's a lot

of speed in this race and if this horse is just sort of

locked down last on the rail turning for home and this turns

into a Sprint, maybe he finds trouble again at a short price.

Hey, Billy is an interesting horse to me.

I have a feeling he's going to take money because everyone I've

talked to likes Pay Billy in this spot.

He's won two in a row. I loved his race at six furlongs

2 starts back because he is not a sprinter and he was still able

to stay close to the pace and grinded it out.

Love the way he sprinted home last time outgoing the one turn

mile when he got an easy lead and I just think he's going to

sit right up close to the pace in here.

I think the price is right for Pay Billy and I'm curious to see

him take on stakes horses. It's a nice addition of the

miracle would. I'm not going to play spoilers

or give anything away. I do think the best 3 year old

in Maryland is going to be running this weekend only on

Sunday. We call that a tease.

All right, Callie, Francois, do you agree with Dan?

I agree with Dave or Dan on every facet of what he just gave

away because I. Also agree with Dave Rodman.

I agree, yes. I mean, yes, also that, but I,

and my heart is breaking for Sacred Thunder because I've just

been backing this horse the entire time and it just so it's

probably going to be the case where I lay off of him and this

guy's going to go ahead and sail away.

But that's where I land on Pay Billy.

I just am, as Dan mentioned, I am one of those on the bandwagon

that's a huge fan of this guy. So I was just really, really

impressed with the way that he did that last time out.

Obviously, you see on the black and white that he's winning by 5

lengths going to the lead. Dan already mentioned that he

may be sitting off of the pace here today.

It's going to be interesting to see how that break goes because

as far as looking at the other, you know, potential speed that

we have, I honestly, you know, we're sticking around to this 8

furlong distance. I wouldn't be surprised if this

guy ended up inheriting the lead again and just kind of does a

little bit of a repeat from last time out.

Now he will have these horses to contend with, you know, coming

down on him. He's not if he wins, it's I'm

going to be hard pressed to say he'll be winning by 5 because

you see horses like crab daddy who are just going to be sitting

right behind him and even even all the hard ways underneath.

But you Barbadian runner in the spectacular bit.

So you just that's where I I do go 5132 here, I think with

Stedley do right in that in the OR sorry, Stedley do right.

It's going to be a scratch. Sorry.

So I go 5124. I just think it's going to be

interesting with to see what crab daddy shows against this

group here today. But yeah, hey, Billy, I I'm a

huge fan. I don't have a lot of, you know,

doubts about him, let's say, but I do like that you stick stick

with sacred Thunder, Dan. Louie Louie's going to be, this

is going to be a jockey's race. I, I, I really do think so.

You know, it's a one turn mile. It's a quirky distance.

There's not a lot of speed in here.

I think Crab Daddy's going to try to show some speed, maybe

Pay Billy, but I don't see them going very fast in here.

So I'd like to see a jockey get aggressive, maybe Raul Manion.

Pay Billy decides to go because this horse will stay.

I, I wouldn't be, I'm going to say that I won't be surprised at

all if Raul just honestly goes for it.

I just, Raul's mentality, he's going to see what's going on on

this form. I really do think he's going to

gun for it here. Any any chance Dan Mike, my guy

crab daddy gets this done? I mean any chance or do we find

out he's? I think there's a very good

chance the crab daddy. OK.

All right. The horse has done nothing

wrong. Linda Albert put the blinkers on

last time out and you saw in the spectacular big, he was a little

eager that first quarter mile. He was kind of real sharp and

pleased Linda because this horse, she said, was

lollygagging in his first few races just at the back of the

pack and wouldn't get into it until late.

Here he was fresh, he was sharp out of the gate.

He had to go fast and he was still digging in very gamely.

I think there's a chance he gets a much easier he situation this

time around. I think he's either 1-2 turning

into that long stretch there. You go all right, well, that is

the miracle wood. No points on this, No points on

this path, but plenty of hype heading in to the Preakness for

sure. Another great race to close out

the Pick 5 is a maiden. Special way at the end of the

card here for three-year old Phillies.

It's a six furlong Sprint on the dirt here.

A fair number of first time starters here as well.

Dan, I think we have to go to you because this is a maiden

race and this is what you write. Books, brother, you got DVD's.

This is that. Go.

Damn. Go.

Back in the back and I remember they used to have DVDs.

It's. Not.

I'm not even making it funny because I like DVDs too.

It's not like like in a time box somewhere, you know, buried for

the. Aliens.

Ali does not know what a DVD is. I actually have a bunch of.

I still have a stack of old DVDs that I have in my apartment.

Yeah. I would have lost that bet

badly. I would have lost that bet

badly. All right.

Where does Dan Elvin the The clothes are here on Saturday.

Arena is fire. The number 4 is an interesting

horse for Gary Capin here who does very very well with first

time starters. I got 6 for the last 15 with

first time starters on Dirt 244 ROI.

This horse you know, may not have that black tie pedigree but

is by a strong debut siren Blofeld, the dam one on dirt.

The third dam was a Group 1 winner and I just looked at that

most recent work. She worked on February the 18th

and the same exact time as Gary Capps veteran mayor Intrepid

Dream was a nice older horse capable of running buyers in the

high 80s and I just wonder maybe they worked in company.

So we've got a high percentage trainer, a solid pedigree, a

good work tab, and maybe because Divine Works just took so much

money in both starts, One at Sarah Olga for Michael

Trombetto, who's not known for when he first died out and then

coming right back in a stakes race.

And maybe that horse will take a lot of money one more time.

I'm just curious to see what we get for Rena Aspire.

I have her on top. I'm surprised at this, but Dan

and I came to the same opinion. Kelly, that horse will not

finish last. Who do you have finishing first?

I'm on I'm everybody all fours, all across the board.

Here I go with Rena as fire as well.

I mean, come on, you've got you got Gary Cap who's 9 for 14 in

the money first start as of like as of late.

Listen, this one just knowing understanding how Gary's barn

works. You just you look at those works

and to me that says everything. So I just I fully see this one

just sailing to the front end. This I have a feeling this one

is going to be something special underneath I go with the 6th

high path is the first time starter for Brittany and Sheldon

Russell, something we can always just kind of depend on here.

The dam was well enough in her first couple of starts.

So I'm just you got it. You got to play off of the

trainer's here a little bit and that's what I do here.

And especially since Sheldon's going to be to the outside of

Gary's horse, she's just going to be able to play off of that

all day. He fully expects Gary's horse to

go up front. And I have a feeling, you know,

this one has been up at Fairhill.

Interesting that once this one gets over here to Laurel, we see

just OK works. They in that last work on

February 15th, they tried to really tighten the notches on

this one. So I don't see this one blasting

out of the gate with the kind of speed I see this one just

sitting right off of that because everybody's going to be

going off of the four here. I feel like the four is going to

be taking plenty of money just on the outside MO hype for

Jerry, Rob, Xavier, Perez. When you're able to do it on the

mud, that always kind of gives me a little bit of confidence.

We're second off of the layoff, which while Jerry has been a bit

warm, I'm not going to say cold, just warm.

I will say second off the layoff.

Lately they've been doing very, very well at that.

So I don't they're going to try and play.

At outside speed, I do think that the four will end up being

quicker, but just this is the speed that's going to last for

3rd. That's how I see that playing

out. And then the number three on the

inside farrier I love, you know his stats aren't his stats are

OK. He's 5 for 10 in the money as of

late from Charlestown to Laurel. But again, this is a farrier

typical way Farrier does things. He'll do these first couple of

races and not necessarily treat him like a schooling race, but

this might be a bigger individual individual who just

needs ends up needing a bigger track.

But I I've seen this time, time again with the Charlestown to

Laurel with these first, second, third time starters and usually

they're hitting, they're at least hitting the board with

these types. 4 1/2 furlongs at Charlestown is three turns.

I did that for you, Paul. I hope you're watching.

All right. Well, Dan Ellman, Kelly Fritz.

Well, Dan, please do tell everybody again if they're

joining late, where they can find all the free information,

the website, all that stuff. Laurelpark.com/pics.

You'll be able to download the free handicapping guide again.

Top picks from the team, including Kelly and myself and

the aforementioned Dave Rodman. Of course, my full cart

analysis. We've got top trainer stats for

the day. We've got horses to watch down

the road from the team. We've got Will Humphrey's trip

notes and horses to watch as well.

Also on the homepage, we've got three daily racing forms, DRP

programs. It's a

prettygooddeal@laurelpark.com and you're going to want to head

over to our YouTube channel where you get too much.

All the replays, hands and head ONS, all in one shot, They're

all free replays. They're all looking good, just

like me. Well, there you go, He's the

face of the Operation Dan Ullman.

She's the brains of the operation Cali Francois and I'm

Lou Rabo, I want to thank both of you for joining me here.

We'll see you in a month. Cali, can you already name the

Black Eyed Susan? Prep for next month.

No, I'm watching. I'm watching.

My, my my brain is blank. Sorry, Dan, take it away.

That's what you get for calling the brains of the operation.

That's why I did it. It paid off, too.

I'm so proud of that one, yeah. You should be well, Louis, you

know, enlighten us. What?

What is the next stakes race with Phillies?

Which one, which race, which one?

What are we looking? For what's the next one, I think

is in prep in Maryland. I have no idea.

Thank you. I've been doing this for four

years. I should know this.

What am I doing? And I was thinking about that.

I'm like. Get white cough back on.

Get White cough back. You should host this show, man.

It'll be a lot more fun. All right, well, he's dad.

She's Cali. Cali and I are going to Kelly.

Kelly. We'll, we'll, we'll talk soon,

OK? Is it beyond the?

Is it the beyond the wire? Yes, it is.

It's the beyond the wire. Excellent.

See, Louis. Now what do you have to say now?

Big shot they're nothing right exactly and the show Zach let's

go home I'm. Just going to get Dan off the

screen. I think that's a lot easier than

doing that. How are you Kelly Francois?

I'm good, I'm good. How you doing?

I'm doing great. All right, I'll let the Maryland

folks go. You've been here for 43 minutes

and 16 seconds a day and a lot longer than that because he's in

a hotel and has nothing else to do.

So All right, bye, everybody. Bye, Maryland folks.

Bye. All right, reminder to as we

move along, check out our friends over at AM Wager, am

wager.com. Of course, the promo, they're

right now 100% sign a bonus up to $150.00.

So go in dollar for dollar match right now with our friends over

at AM wager. Really a beautiful site.

If you haven't been over there before, got got you covered for

every single track on the Maryland circuit as well.

All right, for all the folks in Maryland, my name's Louie Repo.

We'll do this next month. By then I will know the names of

the preps. This has been the horse racing

happy hour.